Month: November 2016

Happy Cyber Monday!!! There are some awesome deals for Instant Pots on Amazon today. If you haven’t taken the plunge, the time is now!

I forgot to take any pictures of my chili, but I’ll try to take some next time we eat it! For now, this pic will have to do:

“The trick is to undercook the onions.” – Kevin, the Office. (Anyone remember Kevin’s famous chili?)

This chili recipe is super quick and easy, mainly because you only brown the beef for a few minutes, and throw the onions in raw. I promise they aren’t undercooked, BUT I do think that onions cooked in chili actually make the chili taste better than if you sauté them before adding the liquid, tomatoes, etc.

This recipe is highly adaptable to the tastes of your family. I’ve written the exact ingredients I used, but it is more about the method than sticking to the actual ingredients. You can change out the types of beans, the amount of meat or beans, the amount of seasoning, etc. This turned out super delicious, but I like my chili to lean a little more towards soup. If you like yours thicker, use 2 lbs of meat or add less tomatoes.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 can of black beans (drained)

1 can of pinto beans (drained)

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes (drained)

1 finely diced onion

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional)*

1 squirt of ketchup (optional)*

a dash of cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to sauté. When it says “hot” add the ground beef and brown. (I forgot to add any oil to the pan, but the beef had enough fat that it didn’t matter. You can add oil if you’re using super lean meat or ground turkey.)

When the beef is brown, turn off the pot and stir in all other ingredients.

Put the lid on, seal, and set the pot to Bean/Chili for 11 minutes.

The 11 minutes is enough time for the onions to fully cook and flavors to combine.

It’s that easy! Throw it together quickly, and then walk away while it cooks.

*I like a little bit of sweetness in my chili. You can add the brown sugar and ketchup to taste. If you taste it and it is missing something, try a bit of the sugar. 😉

***You can replace all of the seasonings in this recipe for your favorite chili seasoning packet.

Yesterday I subbed at my girls’ preschool. Then we had errands to run. Then we had a doctor’s appointment. When we finally pulled in our garage at 6 PM there were hungry dogs to feed, a diaper to deal with, back packs and lunch boxes to clean, and dinner to be made. Also one of my dogs ate half of a pumpkin so there were dried pumpkin bits all over the floor.? I really didn’t even know what to deal with first.

I ignored everything else and spent about 6 minutes putting this dinner in the Instant Pot . While it was cooking I had time to take care of everything else. This recipe is so quick to assemble, but it tastes really good. It is one of my favorite pressure cooker meals.

Ingredients

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil to coat bottom of the pan

1.25 lbs of beef stew meat (You could use more or less and adjust easily)

one chopped onion

1 splash of red wine

2/3 cup beef broth

a few dashes of garlic powder or chopped garlic

dash of seasoned salt (optional)

black pepper

1 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch

1/4 cup of beef broth for corn starch slurry

Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to sauté and let heat.

Chop onion.

When the Instant Pot says “hot” add oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add beef and brown for 3-4 minutes. (Do not put on lid when using Sauté.)

After the meat has a bit of color add onion, wine, broth, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper.

Set on “Meat/Stew”for 20 minutes.

Stir together corn starch with additional broth to make a slurry.

After the cooking is done, depressurize and remove lid. Turn on Sauté and add the broth/corn starch slurry. Cook for 1-2 more minutes until the sauce thickens. Salt and pepper to taste.

You should have a good bit of sauce to serve over broccoli, rice, egg noodles, etc. We were in a hurry so we microwaved a rice packet and a bag of broccoli. SO good!

So I am really really not good at food photography. I gotta work on taking these pics near a window or something. But, truly, this recipe did turn out very yellow due to the turmeric. This recipe is tasty and healthy. It could be a meal on it’s own, but would be great with something simple like a rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients

olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

4 stalks of celery, chopped

4 medium carrots, chopped

3 cloves chopped garlic

3 cups broth (chicken or veggie)

1.5 cups of dried, rinsed quinoa

1 teaspoon of turmeric

salt and pepper to taste (This makes a pretty good portion of food, so I found it needed a good bit of both.)

Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. When it says “hot,” add your chopped veggies and garlic. Let them sauté for 3-4 minutes. You do not put the lid on when sautéing. You can quickly rinse your quinoa while the veggies are sautéing.

After veggies are a bit tender, stir in broth, quinoa and turmeric. Watch for little pieces of quinoa on the side of the pot. Use a spoon to push them all down into the liquid.

Set to cook on “rice” for 8 minutes.

Add salt, pepper or any herbs or seasonings of your choice to taste. This can be a bit bland, but salt, pepper or even a seasoning mix like Mrs. Dash can take it a long way.

At this point, it is done and you can turn off the pressure cooker! But as I was eating it, I realized that peas would be a great addition and would force my kids to get another vegetable. So I heated up a microwave steam bag of frozen peas and poured about 2/3 of the bag into the pot with the pilaf. I really enjoyed that! So, there’s another option!

I had several taste testers for this recipe, and every one of them loved it. They also all said they couldn’t taste the cauliflower! It gives it a great creamy texture (With the help of some cream cheese.) This soup has several steps, but they aren’t hard, and I promise it is worth it because it is so flavorful from the bell peppers, jalapeños and green chills. Also worth it anytime I can sneak extra vegetables in. I hope you love it!

Ingredients

olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 green bell pepper chopped

1 red bell pepper chopped

4 jalapeños, seeded and chopped

2-3 cloves of chopped garlic or garlic powder

2 lbs of chicken breasts

3z oz carton of chicken broth

1 head of cauliflower, chopped (or 16 oz bag of frozen)

8 oz cream cheese

2 cans of diced tomatoes and green chills (I used mild rotel.)

1 can of white beans

2 teaspoons cumin

1 tablespoon of chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Set your instant pot to the “Sauté” setting, and wait until it says “Hot.” Add olive oil to coat the bottom.

Add chicken breasts and broth. Put on lid and seal. Cook on “Poultry” for 30 minutes.

After cooking and depressurizing, open the pot and use a slotted spoon to spoon out the chicken and most of the veggies. Put chicken and veggies in a bowl or large plate and set aside.

Add cauliflower to pot, put the lid back on and cook for 5 minutes.While the cauliflower is cooking, shred the chicken.

After 5 minutes are up, open the pot, turn on the sauté feature and add your cream cheese. Blend the broth, cream cheese and cauliflower with an immersion blender.

Add all veggies and chicken to the pot, then add your cans of rotel and white beans and all seasoning. Stir together and let it sit on the sauté heat for a few minutes while the flavors blend. Don’t forget to switch it from “sauté” to “warm” or turn off after a few minutes. (Adjust seasonings to your taste! I know some might like more cumin and chili powder.)

The other night, I thought my husband had a meeting that would run til 9:30. This isn’t the norm, so I was slightly excited to feed the kids leftovers, put them in bed early and enjoy a grilled cheese + LaCroix + The Good Wife.

Mason called after I had fed the kids dinner to tell me his meeting wasn’t until the next night and he would be home in 30 minutes. Now, my easy-going husband would’ve been fine with the grilled cheese. But, that night I felt like I could dig deep within and create something a little better for us to eat together when he got home. He was driving and the clock was ticking.

This is the magic of an Instant Pot: I’m sure I could’ve cooked all these ingredients in a crockpot all day, but I didn’t have an entire day. I had 30 minutes. Thankfully, it took me about 7 minutes to get this recipe going. I left it alone for the next 30 minutes and bathed my kids. When I came back I only needed 3 minutes until it was done.

Ingredients

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil to coat bottom of the pan

2 lbs chicken breasts

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 cloves of chopped garlic (I was in a hurry so I just used pre-chopped from a jar in the fridge!)

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce (You could use siracha or some other spicy sauce.)

1/4 Teaspoon of powdered ginger. (If you’ve got fresh, rock on.)

1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch

additional 1/3 cup of broth

Sesame seeds

Instructions

Use the Sauté setting to heat the pot. When “HOT” add oil. Sauté the chicken on both sides for 1-2 minutes. (You do not put the lid on when sautéing.)

Pour the sauce over the chicken. Put the lid on, seal, and set to Poulty for 26 minutes.

After the cooking time is finished. depressurize, remove lid, and set back to sautee.

Whisk together your cornstarch and additional broth to make a slurry. Pour over chicken to thicken the sauce. As it is thickening, I used two forks to shred the chicken in the pot.

Add sesame seeds to the top.

Optional, garnish with green onions and additional soy sauce.

And, since we were in a hurry, I served this with a rice packet and some frozen veggies. Those veggies were fine, but the next day I served it to my girls with steamed broccoli, and that was even better. The leftovers were even tastier the next day.

Side note, if you have these staples + soy sauce, you can make all kinds of great Asian inspired dishes in a flash. They stay good for a long time, so they’re definitely worth having on hand!

I’ve always been intimidated by gnocchi. It seemed complicated, but I was totally wrong. I’m not sure if you can even mess it up. So easy. This soup has a few more steps than some of my other favorite recipes, but it is worth it because it is SO tasty. And it’s still pretty simple! I’ve made it twice in the last month, and even my picky toddler loved it.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1-2 cups of shredded carrots (I used a bag of pre-shredded)

4 stalks of celery, chopped (I used some of the leaves, too)

3 cloves of chopped garlic

2 lbs of chicken breasts

32 oz carton of chicken broth

16 oz package of potato gnocchi

8 oz of frozen spinach, water squeezed out

2 teaspoons of dried oregano

generous pinch of black pepper

a dash of nutmeg

1/4-1/2 cups of half and half

salt to taste

Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. When it says “hot,” add your chopped veggies and garlic. Let them sauté for 3-4 minutes. (You do not put the lid on when sautéing.)

Add the carton of chicken broth and the chicken breasts. Put on lid and seal. Cook on “Poultry” for 30 minutes. (If you aren’t ready to tend to the soup again at this point, you can go about your business and leave it for an hour or so and come back and finish at your convenience. The pressure cooker will keep it warm and ready until you are ready for the next steps.)

After the 30 minute cook time, de-pressurize the pot. At this point, the chicken should fall apart pretty easily. Shred the chicken.

Stir in the package of gnocchi. Set the pressure cooker to cook on “soup” for 5 more minutes. This softens the gnocchi.

De-pressurize, set your pot back to “sautee”…This just keeps the soup a little hotter as you finish cooking.

Stir in your spinach, nutmeg, oregano, salt, pepper, and half and half. (The half and half amount is up to you, depending on if you would like it more or less creamy. You can also add a few splashes of milk.) Let it continue to heat on sauté for a few more minutes, then turn off.

**I like soups to be pretty dense and less brothy. It makes it easier for my kids to feed themselves. However, this soup would be excellent if you wanted to add another cup or two of broth to make it less dense.

(This recipe could be easily adapted to crock-pot by mixing all veggies, chicken, broth and seasonings. Cook on low for 6-7 hours, high 3-4. Add gnocchi and spinach at the end and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Add half-and-half at the very end.)